Environmental Education | Nurture by Nature

Why Invest in Environmental Education?

Environmental needs are calling us to action now more than ever before. The closer we look into the conditions of our time, the more visible are the embedded structures of power that unjustly dictate so many local and global systems. How then, are we to become and influence change-makers toward a more positive future? The following story about Hummingbird starts to bring light to this question. Told by Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai:

One day a terrible fire broke out in a forest - a huge woodlands was suddenly engulfed by a raging wild fire. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream they stopped to watch the fire and they were feeling very discouraged and powerless. They were all bemoaning the destruction of their homes. Every one of them thought there was nothing they could do about the fire, except for one little hummingbird.

This particular hummingbird decided it would do something. It swooped into the stream and picked up a few drops of water and went into the forest and put them on the fire. Then it went back to the stream and did it again, and it kept going back, again and again and again. All the other animals watched in disbelief; some tried to discourage the hummingbird with comments like, "Don't bother, it is too much, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too tiny, it’s only a drop, you can't put out this fire."

And as the animals stood around disparaging the little bird’s efforts, the bird noticed how hopeless and forlorn they looked. Then one of the animals shouted out and challenged the hummingbird in a mocking voice, "What do you think you are doing?" And the hummingbird, without wasting time or losing a beat, looked back and said, "I am doing everything I can."

Progressive Environmental Education includes:

Nature Connection

Nature connection can happen on both small and large scales depending on your surroundings (whether you live in a city or on farmland, there are always bugs, birds and sky!). Developing a relationship with the natural world involves a sensation of timelessness, engaging with empathy, and fostering a complexity of perspective that only nature can provide. Humanity is part of natural systems and cycles, and is bound to the same laws of the universe as everything else. Through our unique consciousness, which develops intricately over time as each individual grows, nature-based education reveals profound life lessons.. as long as we have developed the lens through which to take notice and apply our learning. Physicist Albert Einstein said "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

Prioritizing

"Reduce, reuse, recycle" is an important and familiar phrase, with the directives listed in the order of importance. A responsible environmental education program will focus on reducing negative impact as the primary goal. Developing local food systems and a local economy, while creatively sharing resources and building community are prudent first steps with lots of complexities and avenues for learning at any age. Environmental activist Jane Goodall says "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

Diversity as a Necessity

The necessity of diversity that the natural world demonstrates is also a social imperative for anyone teaching environmental education. When prioritizing a focus on local economy by sharing skills and resources, without a diverse set of skills and perspectives, we do not achieve the balance needed for a thriving social system. Getting to the heart of diversity work includes exploring equity, privilege and oppression - understanding the systems that determine why the negative effects of our current environmental imbalances disproportionately affect people in poverty. Without justice and equal access to healthy, local abundance, we will not be able to achieve environmental stability. Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hanner said "Nobody's free until everybody's free."